ESA ISS Award Winners 2012

ESA ISS Award winners with Thomas Reiter

31 October 2012

ESA astronaut André Kuipers did not work alone during his long-duration spaceflight expedition. The outstanding job and support of his colleagues provided from the ground, making PromISSe a successful mission, was recognised in the second ISS Award ceremony, held on 25 October in ESTEC's Erasmus Centre.

This year’s edition was a unique opportunity to acknowledge those who contributed to Increments 29 & 30 with their expertise, professionalism and dedication. “This award is a reflection of all of your efforts. We want to recognise and inspire you,” said the Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations, Thomas Reiter, during the presentation of the awards.

Nomination time

ESA individuals and teams, as well as European industrial partners, were all eligible to be in the list of nominees. The trophy itself is a piece of ESA’s history – it is a bronze casting of astronaut Hans Schlegel’s Extra Vehicular Activity glove, used for the installation of the Columbus module on the Space Station in 2008.

“I saw the real glove a few years ago! After more than 20 years working in human spaceflight, it feels really good to receive this award on behalf of the whole team,” said Cesare Capararo, who led the ISS Decrew Team, winner in the group category.

Hilde Stenuit, from the Mission Science Office, made a special effort to communicate the benefits of the research carried out on the International Space Station. “I think it is very important to talk about our experiments as much as we can, and explain why they are so valuable,” she stressed.

“This award not only belongs to me, but also to my team. Together we have supported ISS payload operations for over two decades,” said Rafael Bureo, quoted as being both the head of and a “father figure” to his team.

The ESA ISS Award Board, made up of department heads, working group members, HR representatives, and presided over by Thomas Reiter, selected the three winners.

The winners

Each of the three winners received an Increment 29&30 ESA ISS Award in recognition of their contribution to the international human spaceflight arena.

Cesare Capararo and Paola Parodi

ISS Decrew Team - Cesare Capararo, Frank Hartung, Guido Morzuch, Paola ParodiFollowing the loss of the Russian 44P spacecraft and the consequent impact to Soyuz operations during Increment 29, a dedicated team was created to define a new Columbus configuration for the ISS de-crew scenario. Facing very tight deadlines from conception to operations readiness, the team stepped in at short notice to manage a timely response.

Hilde Stenuit

Hilde Stenuit (HSO-UU)Hilde has a track record of 10 years in providing ISS utilisation mission support for the planning, re-planning, operations and overall implementation of ESA’s challenging ISS utilisation programme. She has done an outstanding job continuously promoting the mission achievements in close collaboration with the communication colleagues.

Rafael Bureo

Rafael Bureo Dacal (TEC-MS)As an expert in the field of structures, pressure systems and fracture control, Rafael continues to play a major role for Human Spaceflight at ESA for both systems and payload hardware development. Thanks to his dedication over many years and the contribution of his team, we manage to have more items successfully delivered to and used on board the ISS.

The nominees

The other five nominees also enjoyed recognition during the ceremony for their contribution within the international human spaceflight arena.